In a January 27 vote – split three-to-two along party lines – SEC Commissioners approved interpretive guidance on rules requiring companies to disclose potential impacts of climate change on their bottom lines. The move was prompted by a petition filed in September 2007 by Environmental Defense Fund – Finding the Ways That Work and Ceres. The petition was backed by institutional investors with $1.5 trillion in assets, including treasurers from California, Florida, and New York, among others.
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This week’s NewsAnalysis from the Sea Change Radio Headlines Anchor, Tania Haldar Hart:
So, what’s the connection between investing and genocide in the first place?? I’m no expert on the ethics of investing but I was intrigued by recent news that TIAA-CREF, the huge retirement fund for teachers and academics, divested its holdings in companies considered complicit with genocide. Following up on its March 2009 commitment, TIAA-CREF sold all of its holdings in four Asian state-owned oil companies. Its research showed continued complicity in Sudanese genocide at PetroChina, CNPC Hong Kong, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Sinopec. Financial analysis also showed that divestment would have an insignificant impact on the performance of retirees’ portfolios.Read the show transcript
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This week’s Sea Change Radio News Analysis comes from Tania Haldar Hart:
Last week’s Sea Change News Analysis covered the White House announcement of the President’s visit to the Copenhagen Climate Conference, where he will officially unveil US carbon reduction goals. Today, we focus on the story behind the emissions reductions data. The White House press release claimed a target of 17 percent reductions by 2020, and 83 percent reductions by 2050.Read the show transcript
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This week’s Sea Change Radio News Analysis comes from Tania Haldar Hart:
In a promising turn of events, President Obama announced on Wednesday, November 25th, that he will participate in the UN’s Climate Conference in Copenhagen, next month. This gesture has resurrected the possibilities of bolder outcomes emerging from the upcoming deliberations. While at COP15 on December 9th, he is expected to announce a provisional US emissions reduction target of 17 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050. Hopes were dashed earlier this month at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Singapore when he and other world leaders concluded that there will not be a binding climate treaty coming out of Copenhagen.
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This week’s Sea Change Radio News Analysis comes from Tania Haldar Hart:
The conference to negotiate a new climate treaty is rapidly approaching — early December, in Copenhagen — and the Sea Change Correspondent will be there to cover it. The goal is to to come out of Copenhagen with a workable Climate treaty. But what this will look like is still up in the air. There’s debate over two possible treaties.
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Sea Change’s complete interview with Carroll Muffett of Greenpeace on the Waxman-Markey Climate Bill.
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Sea Change’s complete interview with Joe Romm of Climate Progress.
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Sea Change Host Francesca Rheannon brings us the Sea Change News Analysis examining the sustainability of water as a business proposition. The News Analysis draws on content from the CSRwire.com News Alert by Sea Change Host Bill Baue. For information not included in this version, check out the post on CSRwire.com.
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We’re all watching the dance unfold between Wall Street and DC these days, with a grim fascination. But one organization has formed to put watching into action. It’s called Wall Street Watch, and its a product of several partner organizations, including the Consumer Education Foundation and Essential Action, a corporate accountability group. Co-host Francesca Rheannon spoke with Essential Action Director, Rob Weissman about WSW’s new report, Sold Out: How Wall Street and Washington Betrayed America.
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Cadbury, the popular British chocolate maker, just agreed to source Fairtrade cocoa for Cadbury Dairy Milk, the top-selling chocolate bar in the UK. The move effectively triples sales of Fairtrade cocoa for farmers in Ghana, where Cadbury sources from Kuapa Kokoo. It was one of the first cooperatives there to be Fairtrade certified in the ’90s. In the late ’90s, Kuapa Kokoo also started its own brand, Divine Chocolate, to keep more of the value that typically gets skimmed by middle-men and big chocolate companies. Erin Gorman, CEO of the Divine Chocolate USA, welcomes the move, which validates its model of Fairtrade sourcing. Bama Athreya, executive director of the activist NGO International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF), also supports the development.